


Luce Veritatis

by TwilightKnight17



Series: How to Kill a God [9]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Major P5R Spoilers, Palace Deadline Ending, Pre-Relationship, the aftermath of everything, tying up loose ends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29829624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: In February of 2017, Akira Kurusu and Goro Akechi woke up in a world that they didn't understand.In August of 2017, they did the same.The worst part of living in a false reality for months on end is that the real world is just as unfamiliar when you escape.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira
Series: How to Kill a God [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967740
Comments: 26
Kudos: 67





	Luce Veritatis

**Author's Note:**

> This is the final part of this. I'm so glad that everyone has enjoyed it so much. Thank you for letting me drag you on this journey of god murder and pretentious Latin. <3

On a sticky morning in August, Akira woke up to the sight of his childhood bedroom, and blinked with confusion.

It certainly looked like reality. The faint soap-bubble iridescence of the dream world was missing, plus there was the fact that he wasn’t in the depths of the Tokyo subway anymore. He wasn’t sure exactly how the world resetting was supposed to work, so all he could really do was get up and see what everyone thought had been happening for six months.

His phone turned out to be a treasure trove of information. He scrolled back through months of conversations he didn’t remember having, trying to piece together the missing time. Ann was apparently studying abroad, Makoto and Haru had gotten into university and were doing well, Ryuji was doing intense physical therapy to get back into track… He read a whole string of Futaba whining about high school, looked at so many pictures Yusuke had sent him of new paintings…

And apparently he was working on transcripts so he could transfer back to Shujin, if an extensive message history with Kawakami was any indication.

None of that really told him how much everyone remembered, though.

“Oh, are you awake?”

Akira looked up, eyes wide. “Morgana!”

The cat had slipped through the door, which had been left open a crack, and was looking up at him with narrowed eyes. “Why do you sound so surprised? Are you hiding something on your phone?” He jumped onto the bed beside Akira. “Are you getting me that fancy sushi I asked for?”

“Wh— _No_ , I’m just…” How was he supposed to explain that he was so glad to see Morgana in the form of a cat again, without offending him? “Morgana, can I ask you something weird?”

Morgana settled into a neat little loaf on top of his blanket. “That’s already a pretty weird question, but sure. What is it?”

Akira pulled his feet up to sit cross-legged so he was facing Morgana. “Do you remember everything that happened between when Maruki came to talk to us before the Palace, and when I came back home?”

“Uh… Are you feeling okay? Of course I do,” Morgana said. “Why are you asking?”

“Describe it for me?” Akira asked with his best pleading face, and Morgana sighed.

“Do you have amnesia or something? Okay, fine.” Morgana stretched, tucked his feet back under himself, and began describing what sounded like a really, really dramatic battle against Maruki and Azathoth, which culminated in Maruki _fusing with his persona_ and becoming something even bigger. The Thieves – led by Morgana, of course – had valiantly held off the massive persona’s attack long enough for Joker to ascend with his grappling hook and take it out with one well-placed shot to the face.

“Fitting…” Akira muttered, and Morgana swiped at his knee.

“You wanted me to tell you the story! Don’t talk!”

“Sorry, sorry…”

Morgana explained how the Thieves had woken up back in the true reality after the Palace collapsed, realized their leader was in jail, and worked tirelessly to get him out. And then they had spent the rest of their school year together peacefully, before Akira returned home to talk things out with his parents.

That was a lot to take in at once, and Akira kind of wished there was some sort of video of him apparently being _really, really amazing_. Not that he’d want to take away Goro’s moment of glory, careening a car through the Palace. At least his friends remembered him being cool, and not a shaking mess on Goro’s couch who couldn’t sleep properly without him nearby.

...oh, trying to go to bed tonight was going to be interesting. He hadn’t thought about that.

“What happened to Goro, Morgana?” he asked.

Morgana looked away. “Now you’re just being mean. You know what happened. He disappeared, just like Maruki said.”

Akira swallowed hard, and reminded himself that Morgana could only know what they’d been told in February. He didn’t have the extra context Akira did. “Right… Of course.”

“Are you going to tell me _why_ you suddenly wanted to relive the fight and going to jail?” Morgana asked. “Seriously. You don’t really have amnesia, do you?”

“No, I don’t. I promise,” Akira said. It was true. He had different memories, not no memories. “So, what are we up to today?”

As it turned out, apparently he’d had a really great heart-to-heart with his parents when he’d gotten home, because they were so much more willing to talk to him than they used to be. Part of him wondered if that was Goro, giving him a small thing in the new world, or if he would have managed to do it anyway.

It was hard to focus, though. As the day wore on, his thoughts strayed more and more to a piece of paper, folded and pressed into a gloved hand. A note written with the assumption that he might end up here, and Goro would have a much harder time finding him. Would the paper carry into the true reality? If Goro wanted it to, it would. And Akira believed that he would keep his promise. That he would come find him, wherever he was.

***

On a sticky morning in August, Goro woke up to the sight of an apartment he had never seen before, and it took him a second to remember what he had done.

The world was right again. Everything set back to how it should have been, if they’d beaten the shit out of Maruki that day. That didn’t explain the apartment, of course, but Goro was still a detective. He could figure it out.

Snooping around his own house and phone brought him the knowledge that this was his apartment, with a properly-signed lease, paid for with his own money. He had a chat history with Sae Niijima going back months, discussing… oh. He’d been in rehab. Sort of, anyway. Apparently he’d spent time at the rehab facility that had once sheltered his mother, before coming back to help get Akira out of jail from behind the scenes. And then he’d been sent _back_ to rehab, for real this time, because Sae had made the argument that Shido had groomed him into doing his bidding.

He’d been unhappy with that, but had gone along with it. Apparently. Because now he was here in Tokyo in his very own apartment, on probation just like Akira had once been. He was taking online classes at a small local college, with the intention of transferring the credits to Todai when his probation was over. And according to his chat history, he hadn’t spoken with Akira in seven months.

From his and Akira’s perspective, it was only a little while ago. The downside of living in a false reality for so long meant that even though everything was as it should have been, they’d once again been dropped into a world that they didn’t know how to navigate. It was almost ironic.

Goro went back to his bedroom, searching through the bedsheets for the piece of paper that Akira had given him right before he’d fixed the world. 

“Come on…” he muttered. “It has to be here. I was holding it when everything changed back…” His hand brushed over a sharply-folded corner, and he snatched it up, opening it to see what it said. What had been so important that Akira had woken up early at the end of the world to write it down for him?

And then… it was so obvious that he was surprised he hadn’t already figured it out.

“Of course…” Goro couldn’t help but smile, skimming the address written in Akira’s neat, sharp handwriting. “I suppose I need to cancel my plans and get a train ticket.”

When he pulled up the address on his normal navigation app, though, things were going to be a little more complicated than that. He thought Ann had been joking when she called Akira ‘country boy’, but he really was. No main rail lines ran to the small town, just branch lines. He was going to have to switch trains at least twice. This trip was going to be a few hours, at the minimum.  
All the more reason to get started now. He had a backpack he could throw a few changes of clothes in. Beyond that, he really didn’t need much.

Getting there as soon as possible was more important.

Although… He pulled up a search for the nearby small cities. Maybe he could spare a little bit of extra time to make an impression.

***

Akira spent most of the day wandering around town, jittering with nerves and observing the new world.

People still gave him strange looks from time to time, but for the most part, he was left alone. Being gone for a year had given people time to mellow out; he wasn’t quite the social pariah he’d been when he left. And Morgana’s continuous commentary provided even more clues about what he’d been up to in this version of reality. Which was a whole lot of ‘not much’, but after the year he’d had, that would make sense. Peace and quiet for a while would be nice.

Several times, he debated texting Goro, and every time, he decided not to. He made a multitude of excuses to himself. He didn’t know Goro’s situation. Texting him might be dangerous. For all he knew, Goro had righted the world and put himself in jail, like an idiot. But deep down, he acknowledged that really, all he wanted was for Goro to keep his promise, and contact him first. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours yet. He could be patient for the boy who had spent six months working to rescue him.

It was still agonizing, though, in its own way. Not knowing what had happened to him.

Even Morgana was picking up on his tension. “Hey, Akira… Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Akira said. They were sitting on a bench at the edge of the park, people-watching. “Why do you ask?”

“You’ve been wound up since this morning,” Morgana huffed. “Like you think something’s going to happen. And you were asking all those weird questions. Is something going on?”

Akira shook his head. “It’s really nothing. I promise. I just…” As he searched for a way to explain to Morgana without sounding completely ridiculous, he glanced over at the sound of an engine on the road behind him. A motorcycle rolled past, and Akira snorted, wondering who in this little town had been bold enough to buy something like that. But then the motorcycle pulled into an abrupt u-turn and came back, parking on the edge of the street.

The rider dismounted, and Akira’s breath caught as they reached up to take off their helmet, and Goro Akechi looked at him with a smile.

“I was on my way to your house. Good thing I spotted you.”

“A-Akechi?!” Morgana yowled. “What the heck?”

Akira said nothing, getting up and leaving his bag on the bench as Goro walked over. Goro stuck out his hand, raising an eyebrow. “I think I did a pretty good job rewriting the world, don’t you?”

“You…” Akira choked on a laugh. “You’re so fucking stupid.” He batted Goro’s hand out of the way and lunged forward to hug him, the jittering feeling that had followed him all day finally settling as Goro caught him and hugged him back. “Did you really not text me just so you could make a dramatic entrance on a motorcycle?”

“You’re not the only one allowed to be unnecessarily dramatic,” Goro said fondly.

Morgana was watching the two of them, stunned into incredulous silence. After a few moments of opening and closing his mouth without success, he managed, “What is _happening?_ You disappeared! And since when are you all touchy like that?!”

Goro smirked, keeping an arm around Akira even as they both turned to look at Morgana. “An unfortunate side-effect of rewriting reality,” he said casually, and Morgana practically screeched with confusion.

“Don’t pick on Mona,” Akira chided good-naturedly. “We should probably explain, before he explodes.”

Somehow, talking over each other during certain parts, they managed to explain what had occurred to Morgana, who continued to look at them as if they had grown extra limbs.

“So you’re telling me that the two of you lived through a version of this year where Maruki ruled the world, and the only reason I remember us fighting him is because you gave Akechi control of reality?” Morgana summarized, when they were done.

“That’s pretty much it,” Akira said.

“And you let him kill Maruki?!”

“......I don’t expect you to understand, Morgana.” Akira looked away.

“I told you what he did to us,” Goro said sharply. “One clean shot was more than he deserved. And I did _not_ bring him back. He's gone.”

“But the Phantom Thieves don’t kill!” Morgana objected. “You’re our leader; what are you going to tell the others?”

Akira sighed. “I’m not going to tell them. I’m telling you, but I don’t want them to know. It’s too much, and I’m not going to take that cool final battle away from them.”

“But…” Morgana looked worried, putting a paw on Akira’s leg. “We… You were in trouble, and we didn’t know. We…”

“Morgana, no.” Akira scooped him up, pressing their foreheads together. “ _You_ fought alongside us to defeat Maruki. That’s your reality. And the others’ reality, too.”

Goro hesitated, then reached over to roughly ruffle Morgana’s ears. “If it helps,” he said, just a little awkwardly, “don’t think of it as you. It was some bullshit version of you that Maruki made, not the real you. Just like he made a bullshit fake Akira.”

Morgana looked startled that Goro had petted him, but after a moment, he relaxed. “I guess that makes sense…”

Akira smiled. “Your version sounds better, anyway. I got to be really cool in that version.”

Goro had his own opinions on how cool Akira had been, confronting the man that had manipulated and abused him. But he was going to keep those to himself. No need to let Morgana think he’d gone any more soft than he probably already did.

As Akira set Morgana back down on his lap, the cat grumbled, “I guess that explains the two of you, too. If you bonded over fighting Maruki.”

Akira glanced at Goro. “He saved me. I’m… never going to stop being grateful.”

“Oh, be quiet.” But Goro got up, holding his helmet against his hip with a grin. “Am I giving you a ride home to scandalize your parents?”

Lighting up, Akira bounced to his feet as well. “Hell yes! But I’m not going home. You just got into town; I have to show you all the good spots.”

“In this tiny town?” Goro mocked, as Akira gathered up Morgana. “How many of those could there be?”

“Hey!”

Goro headed towards the motorcycle. “As long as you can give me directions, I suppose I’ll let you drag me around.”

***

There was only one helmet, but they were careful, taking the time to make sure Morgana was securely in the bag, and Akira was securely on the back of the bike. He held on tight, nuzzling into the back of Goro’s jacket, just like back in Tokyo before reality went back to normal.

They ended up dropping Morgana off at home, since as he put it, he ‘could tell that they needed to talk’. And then Goro let Akira show him around town, culminating in a quiet dinner at Akira’s favorite local udon restaurant while they each shared what their lives had supposedly been like in the correct reality. A few people gave them odd looks, but no one actually stopped to ask Akira who his guest was, and they were able to talk in peace.

“Rehab…” Akira mused. “The version of you in this reality got off a lot easier in terms of personal development.”

Goro rolled his eyes. “I would much rather spend six months with Lavenza, trying to figure out how to fight a god, than talk to some police-appointed stranger who couldn’t _possibly_ understand what I’ve been through. I can’t imagine that went very well for anyone involved.”

Akira snorted into his noodles. “Lavenza’s someone else I’m never going to stop being grateful to. She took pretty good care of you.”

For a second, it seemed like Goro was going to object to the implication that he couldn’t take care of himself, but in the end, he just nodded. “She really did.”

The conversation waned for a little while as they ate, but then Akira said hesitantly, “I meant to ask… Did you… keep the power? After you fixed reality?”

“It was certainly tempting,” Goro said. “I could see why Maruki went so out of control. But no, the last thing that I did was ensure that Mementos and that power completely dispersed. No one needs that kind of influence.”

“I knew that’s what you’d do.” Akira couldn’t help but beam at him.

“You have entirely too much faith in me. I still can’t believe you gave me that much power in the first place.” Goro picked at his food for a moment, then asked, “So… What are you going to do now? I’m apparently planning to transfer to Todai next year. Did the you of this reality have plans?”

“Transferring back to Shujin, apparently,” Akira said. “Which makes sense. I’ve only been here one day, and I already miss Tokyo. I can’t imagine what the me that lived through this reality must have been feeling. I haven’t seen the others since February…”

“Right back to your natural attic habitat,” Goro teased, but there was an edge to his voice.

Akira reached up to tug gently at a curl of his bangs. “I guess. I haven’t gone through all of my messages and stuff yet, so I dunno if I’ve talked to Sojiro. I was… mostly just waiting for you to call,” he admitted. “It was weird, thinking that you weren’t here. That we weren’t going to bicker about what to do for lunch, or go to Mementos, or fall asleep together. Everything is just so...normal, all of a sudden.”

“It’s certainly strange,” Goro agreed. “Going from worrying about how to save all of reality, to… worrying about my college grades, I suppose.” He looked like there was something else he wanted to say, but he abruptly looked down, focusing instead on finishing his noodles.

It wasn’t until they’d gone back outside that he said, very quietly, “If you don’t have other arrangements, you could keep staying with me, once you’re back in Tokyo.”

Akira stared at him, not sure that he’d heard right, and Goro looked away.

“Obviously you don’t have to, but I’m used to you being around at this point. And frankly, I have a few more amenities than the attic.”

Akira smiled fondly, stepping forward to slip his hand into Goro’s. “Having an actual shower was nice,” he said, squeezing Goro’s hand. “Hey, do you have somewhere to stay tonight?”

Goro looked back at last, and despite his casual expression, there was a spark of affection in his eyes. “Unfortunately not. I intended to go directly to your house, and found you sooner than I expected, so I haven’t reserved a room at an inn.”

“I’m sure my parents will let my Knight stay,” Akira said, unable to resist the nickname. He tugged Goro gently towards the bike. “C’mon. Let’s go home.”

In the end, this was so much better. Being handed happiness couldn’t compare to knowing that when given the choice, Goro had chosen to immediately come back to him. On a motorcycle. 

He couldn’t say for sure where exactly they were going to go from here, but he did know for a fact that they would go together.

**Author's Note:**

> **Amor Vincit Omnia**


End file.
